Modern house in the woods for Polish Sculptor Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz

Architects: YH2
Location: Bolton-Est, Québec, Canada
Year: 2016
Area: 1.700 ft²/ 158 m²
Photo courtesy: Francis Pelletier, Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz, YH2
Description:

“The house of sculptor Jarnuszkiewicz is a collaborative work between client, sculptor Jacek Jarnuszkiewicz and architects Marie-Claude Hamelin and Loukas Yiacouvakis.

The project was conceived following the guidelines of the surrealist’s exquisite cadaver where each designer builds upon the work done by the previous one.

Each sculptural proposition was debated among the designers until verticality, as a strong and clear expression of the given landscape’s essence, was agreed upon as the core concept of the project. Located on a vast land overhanging lake Trousers, it is surrounded by a chiaroscuro coniferous forest.

Once the compositional rules established, the project was developed from the hand of one creator to the other, from volume to plan, from the handling of materials and masses to the upgrowth of interior spaces.

The fractioning of masses, the composition of two wood volumes, one light and one dark, the opacity and transparency structural games all make the house unite with nature and nature integrate the interior spaces of the house.

The open plan of the house offers a natural fluidity and continuity between the forest’s ground level and the lower floor of the house, between interior and exterior. The experience offered by the mezzanine lounge on the last floor is completed by a large covered terrace that simultaneously is a wildlife observation tower and a panoramic belvedere. It opens itself to the mountains and overlooks the nearby lake.

Vertical composition reminiscent of the mature trees surrounding it, the house opens itself to daylight and to the majestic scenery thanks to the large glass facade covering the three floors.